Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved rapidly from experimentation into real-world urban applications. Cities and communities, consequently, are entering a new phase of digital transformation.

AI can help analyse complex data, improve public services, optimize infrastructure and respond more effectively to environmental and social challenges. Still, realizing these benefits at scale will require AI systems that work together transparently and put people at the centre.

These priorities brought more than 350 experts together for the Forum on AI and Citiverse: Building the Foundations for Interoperable, Inclusive and Scalable Urban Innovation on 9-10 September and the first meeting of ITU’s Focus Group on AI for Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities on 10-11 September in Tampere, Finland.

These timely discussions – opened by Finland’s Minister of Local and Regional Government, Anna-Kaisa Ikonen, and the Deputy Mayor of the City of Tampere, Jaakko Mustakallio – highlighted the need for national and local governments, the technology and standards communities, academia and international organizations to cooperate on shaping AI-enabled cities.

Opportunities and challenges of urban AI

Cities must address questions of data quality, availability, transparency, accountability, bias and accessibility, while ensuring that AI systems are interoperable with existing digital infrastructure and can operate reliably at scale. Other challenges relate to skills, institutional capacity, investment, and unequal access to technologies and expertise.

This new digital divide requires cities to look beyond any single application and consider how to integrate AI responsibly into complex urban systems.

International collaboration, through efforts like our Focus Group, can bring city administrations and technology experts together to identify where standards and related guidance can help create the conditions to turn AI opportunities into tangible benefits.

The Focus Group, established in May by ITU-T Study Group 20 (Internet of Things, digital twins and smart sustainable cities and communities), welcomes representatives from all cities, governments, industry, academia, standards development organizations and international organizations to help shape the technical foundations for scalable, interoperable and sustainable urban AI.

Laying crucial foundations

Six working groups and 18 task groups will tackle 43 agreed technical and pre-standardization objectives, aiming to produce forward-looking, practical technical specifications and reports that will inform associated standards work in ITU-T Study Group 20.

Key topics include terminology, taxonomies and AI adoption frameworks; urban foundation models; agentic, physical and spatial AI; key urban use cases and requirements; reference architectures; data spaces and interoperability; AI readiness, lifecycle management and assessment; accessibility and digital inclusion; and the sustainability impacts of AI-enabled urban systems.

As Co-Chairs of the Focus Group, we look forward to working with experts and stakeholders from around the world to advance this work. Broad and inclusive participation will remain vital to ensuring that the Focus Group’s outcomes reflect diverse realities, capabilities and priorities.

Connecting dialogue with technical action

Our first Focus Group meeting built on the Forum on AI and Citiverse, co-organized by ITU, UN-Habitat and the City of Tampere at the same venue. Those discussions explored how the next generation of AI – including generative, agentic, physical and spatial variants – is already changing urban planning, infrastructure, mobility, public services and decision-making.

ITU and UN-Habitat – through the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative –also led a consultation on strategies for people-centred cities in the AI era, with the first iteration of a new toolbox of guiding principles and frameworks expected to be unveiled at the UN Pavilion during the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on 3-5 November.

In the run-up to Barcelona’s expo, cities are invited to share AI use cases and volunteer for pilot testing for the upcoming guide.

As AI converges with digital twins, the AI-enabled citiverse helps share experiences and explore what is needed to achieve real-world, citywide impact. International standards and interoperability will be essential. But AI-enabled urban innovation can, and must, remain human-centred, sustainable, and worthy of the public’s trust.

Join us as we build the foundations for the cities and communities of tomorrow.

Learn more about the ITU Focus Group on AI for Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Contact [email protected] for further information.